Iron purifying and balling furnace



Mair, 27, H923.-

O. S. PULLIAM IRON PURIFYI'NG AND BALLING FURNAC Filed Jan. l2, 1922 2sheets-sheet l lll/lla *1 l TURA/EVS Mair. 27, 11.923. 1,449,546

O. S. PULLIAM IRON PURIFYING- AND BALLING FURNACE 2 sheets-sheet 2 FiledJan. 12', 1922 WHA/5885s "VVE/WOR Y I '05. Pda/HM d f er m-- TTHIVEVSPatented Mar. 27, 192s.

UNITED STATES IRON' P'URIFYING AND BALLING FURNAGE.

Application filed January 12, 1922. Serial No. 528,769.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I; OswALD' S. PULLIAM, a citizen of thevUnited States,and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan,` in thecounty and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved IronPurifying and Balling Furnace, of which the following is a full, clear,and exact description.

The present invention relatesto new and useful improvements inmetallurgical furnaces, and it pertains more particularly to a furnacefor purifying and balling iron.

. In the method most commonly employed for purifying iron the molteniron is combined with a suitable oxidizing agent and is manipulated bymeans of hand tools in order that the oxidizing agent may be broughtinto intimate contact with the molten metal.

Mechanical devices such as oscillatory and rotary furnaces, have beenused in lieu `of hand tools for the manipulation of the mass butsuchdevices have-not generally been successful owinyg to the fact that theirconstruction was not capable of properly mixing themolten metal with theoxidizing agent, mainly because after'the iron has been subjected to theoxidizing agent forza period of time sufficient to bring said iron nearto nature, the iron is balled and a structure whichy will' permit ofproper balling of the iron after the oxidizing reaction has taken place,is not conducive to a proper intermingling of the iron and the oxidizingagent to permit of a proper reaction during the reaction step of theprocess.

It is one of the primary objects of the invention. to provide a singlefurnace Vin which both the reaction step of the process and the,ballingstep of4 the process/'may be carried out;

It isa further object of the invention to so-cons'truct suchefurnacetha't the mech anisml employed for bringing the oxidizing agentand the molten iron into, intimate contact one withl the other' willbeeffective as such, and, at-theusan'ie-time, said mechanism isf 'of suchanature alato properly manipul `onthe line 2-2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 isla longitudinal sectional view of a modified `form oftheinvention;

F ig.` 4 is' a `longitudinal` sectionalr view of a still further modiiedform of the invention; f

Fig. 5 is a view in elevation of a modified form of stirring element.

Referring more particularlyto the drawings, the reference character 5designates a .suitable base, and carried thereby 1s a pairA of spacedstandards 6. These standards are providedi with bearingportions 7 andmounted in .each of said bearing portions 7 is a tubular or hollowtrunnion 8. Mounted upon the trunnions 8 is a furnace and while saidfurnace may be formed` of any suitable material, in the present instanceit is shown as consisting of a casing l0 of sheet metal lined withfire-brick! l1 vor the like. The end walls of 'the furnace are providedwith enlarged bearing portions 12 which bearing portions are,` adaptedtoreceive the hollow trunnions 8 and form means by which thc furnace isrotatably mounted thereabout. In order to -provide for the charging andHdischarging of the furnace, a suitable door l5 is employed. The bearing12 at one end yof the furnace is extended as indicated by the referencecharacter 16 and mounted on said extended end Yis a pulley 17x01*other.. suitable driving means adapted to be operated by a suitablepower mechanism not shown.

VSecured tofone of the trunnions 8 is a pulley 18er the like, and byAthis means the u trunnion 8 is rotated. Each of the hollow furnace`Iasindicatedby the reference charM acter 20, and secured to the inwardlypro jected ends of the hollow trunnions 8, by means of set screws 21 orthe like, is a paddle 22. The paddle 22 may be of any desired structureand is covered in any desired manner with fire-brick 23 or the like. Bythis construction it is apparent that as the member 18 is operated byany suitable driving mechanism, the paddle 22 will be oscillated withinthe furnace as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2.

In carrying out the well-known process of puddling iron, a furnaceconstructed in accordance with the present invention functions asfollows:

The molten pig together with the oxidizing agent are introduced into thefurnace through the door 15, and after the door has been closed thepaddle 22 is oscillated within the furnace. Assuming that the furnaceand paddle are in the relative position shown in Fig. 2 of the drawingsat the time the molten metal and oxidizing agent are introduced, and themolten metal then occupies a position to the right of the paddle in Fig.2. By a suitable reversing mechanism (not shown) the paddle would bemoved to the dotted line position designated in Fig. 2 by the referencecharacter A', and the molten iron together with the oxidizing agentwould be elevated. As the paddles assumes the dotted line position, themolten iron together with the oxidizing agent will spill over the rearedge of the paddle as indicated by dotted line B in Fig. 2, and willfall again to the lowest point of the furnace. The paddle is now broughtdownwardly and collects the mass of molten metal upon the lefthand sidethereof and the paddle is elevated to the. position d shown in dottedlines in Fig. 2 with the molten metal spilling over the rear edge, asindicated by dotted lines D in Fig. 2.

As this operation is continued, it is obvious that the molten mass isspilled over the paddle and is precipitated against the bottom of thefurnace with sufficient force to cause a thorough intermingling of themolten mass and the oxidizing agent in order that a proper oxidizingreaction may take place. A

In the preferred form of the invention the rear edge 30 of the paddle 22is angular with. respect to the forward edge thereof, this angularity ofthe rear edge being attained by inclining the rear edge of the paddlefrom a point adjacent each end thereof toward the center. Thisconstruction has a tendency to cause the molten mass to flow toward thelongitudinal center ofthe furnace.

In lcarrying out the puddling and balling process it becomes necessaryto introduce heat into the furnace and provision is made for this in thepresent type of furnace in the form of the hollow trnnins 8, the heatbeing introduced through one of said trunu nions and the gases permittedto escape from the other trunnion, suitable apparatus not forming a partof the present invention bing employed to carry out this operation.

After the deoxidizing step of the process is completed it is onlynecessary to continue the oscillation of the paddle and the molten massowing to the motion which it receives will be properly balled within thefurnace, after which it may be discharged by rotating the furnace aboutits axis by means of a suitable power mechanism of which the member 17is a part, and to move the door to the lower portion of the furnacethrough which the ball may be discharged.

In the form of the invention shown in Fig. 8, the furnace may be rotatedby-hand in any desired manner, the power operating mechanism of thefurnace being elimi nated. In this form of the invention the paddle 40has its rear edge straight as indi-` cated at 41 in lieu of having therear edge `thereof angularly disposed as indicated by the referencecharacter 30 in Figs. 1 and 2.

In the form of the invention shown in Fig. 4, the stirring element 4()is carried by a shaft 41 mounted in a journal 42 carried by a standard43. The journal 42 is carried by the furnace 44 and is secured theretoby means of a plate 45 provided with openings 46 by means of which heatmay be introduced to the interior of the furnace. In this form of thekinvention the opposite end of the furnace to that through which thestir-f ring element projects is provided with anA enlarged outletopening 50 andthe end 51 of the stirring element is not mounted inajournal as in the preferred form of the invention. i

In Fig. 5 is shown a niodified form of stirrer or paddle, and in thisform the intermediate portion 60 of the paddle is provided with aprojection 61. By this construction it is apparent that diui.ngtheballing operation two balls may be formed instead of one, and it is alsoapparent thatl by providing more than one projection 61, a number ofballs may be formed during the balling operation.

What is claimed is:

1. In a puddling furnace. a rotatorv hearth, and agitating means movablein la circular path over the surface of said hearth, and in contacttherewith.

2.r In a furnace for purifying and balling iron. a cylindrical chamberlinedwith a refractory material, and an agitator mounted within saidchamber and adapted to' travel in a circular path with respectthereto,and in contact therewith.

3. In a furnace for purifying and balling iron,1a hearth foi` receivingthe molten iron, and means movable in a circular path alternately fromone side of the hearth to the other to elevate the molten mass of ironand spill the same over the rear edge thereof to obtain agitation of themolten mass.

4C. In an iron purifying and halling furnace, a rotatory heated chamber,hollow trunnions supporting said heated chamber, and an agitating paddlemounted on said hollow trunnions and adapted to move from one side ofsaid chamber to the other as and for the purpose set forth.

5. In a furnace for purifying and halling molten iron, a heated chamberadapted to oscillate and rotate about its longitudinal axis, andindependently operated means for elevating the molten iron on oppositesides of the chamber and subsequently precipitating said molten mass tothe lowest portion of the heated chamber.

6. In a furnace for purifying and halling iron, a heated chamber, andindependently operated means for elevating said iron in- Ateriorly ofthe chamber and subsequently operation, to segregate the mass and formla plurality of individual halls.

9. In an iron purifying and halling furnace, a heating chamber, anagitator mounted therein, said agitator being formed with a rear edgehaving a plurality of curved surfaces whereby a multiplicity of ballsmay be formed during the halling operation.

10. In a puddling and halling furnace, a rotary refractory bafflemovable within the furnace.

11. In a puddling and halling furnace, a rotary refractory bafflemovable in a circular path within the furnace.

12. In a puddling and halling furnace, a rotary balile movable in acircular path within the furnace and in contact with the inner surfacethereof.

13. In a puddling and halling furnace, a rotary baffle movable withinthe furnace in a path concentric with the walls of the furnace.

14. In a puddling and halling furnace, a rotatory refractory bafflehaving its outer edge parallel with the inner surface of the furnace andits inner edge formed with a portion occupying a plane below the ends ofthe baffle.

15. In a furnace for purifying and hallH ing iron, a chamber, and meansfor successively elevating the molten mass on opposite sides of thechamber and precipitating said molten mass from opposite sides of thechamber in a direction toward the longitudinal center of the chamber.

16. In a furnace for purifying iron, a chamber having a transverse axis,and means for elevating a charge of molten metal and precipitating it tothe lowest point of said furnace toward the center point of said axis.

OSWALD S. PULLIAM.

